I am what you might call “pleasantly plump” . This is something that I have coped with for the better part of my life.

My Before Picture

At some point you learn that your happiness is not linked to weight, you need to love yourself before you can lose weight, and yaddayaddayadda, you know the rest. I have been successful at weight loss before by making exercise a priority, by counting points through Weight Watchers, drinking a lake’s worth of water, finding my inner chi with green tea and by eating a lot of 100 calorie snacks and frozen healthy choice dinners. Back then I was single, worked a swing shift (which meant time for exercise in the morning without beating the sun to the punch line), and had no clue about the whole food and/or local food movement. So, here I am 6 years, one husband, one child, one normal 9-5 job later, wanting nothing to do with ingredients I cannot pronounce or food that looks and tastes like cardboard. I get the concept that local and organic do not always mean healthy. An egg is an egg. Butter is still full of fat. Alas, the organic cow does not produce fat free milk. However, if any of you fellow homesteaders and or farmers out there have found out how to raise a fat free cow, I will take it. The moral of my story is that I often run into a great internal conflict between my weight loss goals and my localvore eating goals. I know what you are about to say: There are lots of healthy eating options in the local/organic world. Yes, I make my own vegetable soup. Yes, I eat apples and bananas (I know not local but they are one of my guilty pleasures). Sometimes, though, gosh darn it, I want bacon. I want a chocolate brownie that doesn’t have a horrible hair-raising aftertaste . Have I also mentioned that I am gluten intolerant and thus lead a gluten free lifestyle? Yes, it is true, and I can tell you that low fat, gluten free and tasty do not often intersect. So I find myself at this crossroads and asking what would my ancestors do? Well, weight was not an issue. Why you ask? If they didn’t make it they didn’t eat it. There was no supply of chips or cookies in the pantry. Ice cream and butter had to be churned by hand. Also, their daily routine mirrored the $100 dollar boot camp classes we pay for today. There was not a lot of spare time for feeding your face with brownies while you were making clothes for your family to wear. So my new focus for weight loss success will be a combination of my homesteading love and Weight Watcher’s point counting. I will have a feed to my Weight Watcher’s log on this blog, which I will begin using as my daily confessional. Some will be short and sweet and some long and tedious. In the meantime here is my Top Ten List of a Modern Day Homesteaders Tips for Weight Loss:

10. If it doesn’t require preparation or come directly from nature, you cannot put it in your mouth. Convenience for this farmgirl means little to no self-control.

8. The obsession with being “crafty” and making everything yourself can be your escape. One cannot cram a brownie sundae into your mouth while trying to craft handmade gifts and decorations for the holiday season.

7. People managed to get around for thousands of years before the invention of the wheel. You have two feet. Use them.

6. Enjoy the good stuff: in moderation. There are plenty of options that will meet your organic/local needs without overdoing it. A touch of maple syrup or honey goes a long way. Dark Chocolate is God’s gift to the lifelong dieter. The Laughing Cow cheeses seem to have easily pronounced and limited ingredients. If you have the points left over, Ice Cream and Wine should always be enjoyed.

4. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Make it worthwhile. Visit number 6.

3. Keep track. In this age of excess if you don’t, you will overeat. So, if you bite it, you write it.

2. Portion control. This may have been innate for our ancestors, but not so much for us. Measure and weigh.

1. If you are hungry eat. When you are full stop. The women of old did not have the luxery of eating in front of a TV or with the Iphone on their hip. Pay attention to what your body is telling you. It is your only real link to a simpler time. As it turns out we have not physically evolved all the much. Munching on Frito’s and playing words with friends does not a mindful food experience make.